Elissa Farrow-Savos

“Every piece I make is about storytelling, each a narrative of some woman somewhere, and every woman everywhere. My head is full of the reasons and meanings behind each piece – usually a convoluted combination of a very specific experience with a myriad of emotions and thoughts and opinions that could be many, many words, but instead is this one piece, or maybe two.

There are common themes, such as physical, emotional, and spiritual burdens, connections lost and found, love and anger, dignity and strength. Meanwhile, they keep company with rusty chains, weathered wood, decaying bones, abandoned objects, and scraps of fabric – the debris of life, lived. My women are the same, they show their scars and wear them proudly because after all, they make a good story, if nothing else.” — Elissa Farrow-Savos

Read this artist's biography

Elissa has been an artist since, well, forever. Growing up in New York City in a family of artists, it was simply what you did, and no one questioned its validity or its practicality. She went to special schools throughout her youth to develop her abilities, and the rest was not too unusual – off to Connecticut College, (majoring in Painting and Computer Graphics, minoring in Women’s Studies, Religion, and Education), a lengthy break to marry, have three children, and then back to creating art. Since then, Elissa has been sculpting with a unique and somewhat uncommon material – polymer clay. Pushing the clay past it’s intended boundaries and finishing it with oil paint and found objects, Elissa has forced the medium to do her bidding – create a world of women and their stories. She has exhibited her sculptures all over the country, and most recently in solo and group exhibitions in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.